Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes

Today, we celebrate the Memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes. Thank you, Blessed Mother for loving us and for teaching us how to pray.

COLLECT for Today’s Mass

GRANT US, O MERCIFUL GOD, protection in our weakness,
that we who keep the Memorial of the Immaculate Mother of God, may, with the help of her intercession,
rise up from our iniquities.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.

Prayer to Our Lady of Lourdes

O IMMACULATE Virgin Mary, you are the refuge of sinners, the health of the sick, and the comfort of the afflicted. By your appearances at the Grotto of Lourdes, you made it a privileged sanctuary where your favors are given to people streaming to it from all over the world. Over the years, countless sufferers have obtained the cure of their infirmities—whether of soul, mind, or body. Therefore, I come with limitless confidence to implore your motherly intercession.

Obtain, O loving Mother, the grant of my requests.
Through gratitude for your favors,
I will endeavor to imitate your virtues,
that I may one day share your glory.

 Amen.

Birth control is NOT the issue in HHS mandate

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on the way the media are casting the controversy over the Obama healthcare plan:

In a name association game, when most people hear the words “birth control,” they think of the pill. Most Americans, including Catholics, treat the pill as something altogether different from abortion. So when pollsters ask about the Obama healthcare plan, framing the issue as one about birth control, it is not going to set off the alarms: mention abortion and everything changes. Now consider the evidence.

In a Lexis-Nexis search today, I linked the words “Catholic” “Obama” and “birth control,” and found that in the last week, there were 345 stories (there is always some repetition, particularly with wire services). Within this same grouping, when the words “morning-after pill” were included, the number dropped to 62; when “abortifacients” was linked to the initial three terms, there were 31 stories; and when the term “abortion-inducing drugs” was included, the number dropped to 20.

In other words, the media are framing the issue in terms of the least offensive issue. Add to this the fact that so many Americans just take a glimpse at the headline, which uniformly cites birth control, and the result is a massive distortion.

Why does the Obama plan include abortion-inducing drugs? Because that’s where he wants to go—he would like nothing better than to force all religious institutions to provide abortion coverage—and this is his way of prying the door open.

This issue is, first and foremost, about the First Amendment right to religious liberty. Secondly, it is about abortion. The lust for abortion that this administration has is unparalleled, and its unrelenting drive to shove its radical secular agenda down the throats of the faithful is equally unprecedented.


Contact our director of communications about Donohue’s remarks:
Jeff Field
Phone: 212-371-3191
E-mail: cl@catholicleague.org

Congresman Joe Courtney responds to my HHS madate qurey

Dear Ms. Velasquez,

Thank you for contacting me regarding the issue of health insurance plan coverage of contraceptive services. 

As you know, in August 2011 the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a set of interim rules that would require most health insurance plans to cover preventative health services for women, including access to contraceptive services without a co-pay, co-insurance or a deductible. Included in this new rule was an exception for non-profit religious employers such as houses of worship and other institutions whose primary purpose is to spread their faith. For most employers covered under the rule, the new coverage requirements would go into effect on August 1, 2012. However, on January 20, 2012, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced that the deadline for implementation for church-affiliated institutions such as schools, hospitals, and other organizations would be delayed until August 1, 2013.

The decision by HHS to exempt church health plans, but not church-affiliated institutions such as colleges and hospitals, has generated strong debate on both sides of the issue. The Department maintains that its rule follows the recommendation of the Institute of Medicine – a non-governmental body of physicians and health experts – to include birth control coverage, which the vast majority of American families have utilized for decades. However, this rule has run into resistance from leaders of many faiths who object to a regulation to require the purchase of birth control coverage that runs counter to religious belief. While HHS believes that such objections were addressed through the exemption for houses of worship and a one year delay in implementation for church-affiliated institutions, critics of the rule believe that these steps do not go far enough in addressing their concerns.

It is important to note that this rule would not go into effect for church-affiliated institutions until August 2013, providing significant time for this issue to continue to be reviewed and for alternatives to be proposed to address the concerns of religious institutions. In light of the concerns raised by this rule, I am pleased that the White House has indicated that it would consider alternative methods to provide access to contraceptive services without forcing religious institutions to pay for such coverage. I strongly support this approach, and am hopeful that such a resolution, using existing models from states around the country, can be found. Another possible alternative would be to "grandfather" existing health plans that do not currently include contraceptive coverage and allow such plans to continue to be offered. 

Please be assured that I understand and appreciate your views and concerns about this issue, and will keep them in mind as this rule continues to be reviewed by Congress and the White House. It is worth noting that the willingness of the White House to reconsider alternatives is a direct result of the input of individuals like you. 

Again, thank you for sharing your views on this issue with me. Should you have any additional comments or suggestions, please do not hesitate to contact me in the future. For more information on my work in Congress, please visit my website at courtney.house.govand sign up for my e-newsletter at  courtney.house.gov/forms/ emailsignup . You can also connect with me at facebook.com/joecourtney or receive updates from twitter.com/ repjoecourtney .

 

Sincerely, JOE COURTNEY Member of Congress

Why Rick Santorum can win the election

According to David Brooks in his article in the New York Times, "Workers of the World Unite" 
 Rick is exactly what Reagan Democrats and working class Republicans are looking for and not finding in the rich 'front-runners' of either party.
Brooks explains:

It’s a diverse group, obviously, but its members generally share certain beliefs and experiences. The economy has been moving away from them. The ethnic makeup of the country is shifting away from them. They sense that the nation has gone astray: marriage is in crisis; the work ethic is eroding; living standards are in danger; the elites have failed; the news media sends out messages that make it harder to raise decent kids. They face greater challenges, and they’re on their own.
The Republicans harvest their votes but have done a poor job responding to their needs. The leading lights of the party tend to be former College Republicans who have a more individualistic and even Randian worldview than most members of the working class. Most Republican presidential candidates, from George H.W. Bush to John McCain to Mitt Romney, emerge from an entirely different set of experiences.

 Rick is man of the people who understands the real suffering this economy is inflicting on those of us who wonder if we can afford to buy gas if it goes up to $5/gallon. Do you think Romney ever pumped his own gas? He can't even wear a pair of Levis convincingly.
Rick's Made in America plan to revive the manufacturing sector is based on his experience in rust belt. His down to earth style and honesty are winning hearts and votes, in the Heartland. Pittsburgh whose empty factories experienced a renewal through the medical technology industry.

Here's how Brooks sees him;

Santorum is the grandson of a coal miner and the son of an Italian immigrant. For years, he represented the steel towns of western Pennsylvania. He has spent the last year scorned by the news media — working relentlessly, riding around in a pickup truck to more than 370 towns. He tells that story of hard work and elite disrespect with great fervor at his meetings.
His worldview is not individualistic. His book, “It Takes a Family,” was infused with the conservative wing of Catholic social teaching. It was a broadside against Barry Goldwater-style conservatism in favor of one that emphasized family and social solidarity. While in Congress, he was a leader in nearly every serious piece of antipoverty legislation. On the stump, he cries, “The left has a religion, too. It’s just not based on the Bible. It’s based on the religion of self.”

Rick is a Catholic first and a Republican second. Of course pundits and GOP leadership are not comfortable with that. I think I actually saw Sean Hannity trying not to wince as he announced Santorum's victories. But that non-conformity with the elites in each party may the the reason he resonates so well in the Heartland.

"We are all Catholics now"

Remember hearing about John F Kennedy's famous speech at the Brandenburg Gate; "Ich bin en Berliner"?( I am a Berliner) He indicated that he was one in solidarity with Berliners whose city was divided by the Iron Curtain for nearly half of the Twentieth Century. It is an example which many are following today by Tweeting. "We are all Catholics now".
 I was in Europe in the late 1980's and crossed the Iron Curtain in Hungary, Yugoslavia and Poland. It struck me how the police on the train would always check for stowaways on the way OUT of the Communist countries. No one wanted to get in.
 Poland was in the midst of the uprising of Solidarity when I visited in December of 1988, and, on the feast day of the Immaculate Conception, Catholic Churches were full to overflowing, attendees kneeling on frozen cobblestones of two hours, the Mass was followed by rosary and hymns. The Churches were festooned with gold and white bunting  the Vatican colors, crowned by Blessed John Paul II's Papal Coat of Arms.  There was a feeling of freedom I hadn't seen in Hungary and Bosnia. Freedom to express your faith. That freedom led to the overturning of the Communist empire of forty years without a shot being fired. Solidarity had won out over oppression. Becasue these people had realized that the most precious freedom, freedom of religion, is the bedrock upon which all other freedoms are built.
That is an important lesson for Americans in the light of the HHS mandate that Catholic institutions cover contraception in their employee health plans. If non-Catholics can say, "We are all Catholics now" as JFK said, "I am a Berliner" and the Poles expressed Solidarity, then the evil plans of the Obama Administiration will be overcome. They want to divide and conquer people of faith, one group at a time, till they own our very souls.
They are dong more than looking out for women's health. (As if carcinogenic birth control pills were part of health care!)  They are pushing against the moral authority of the Catholic Church in American society. Every oppressive regime  has to oppress the Church to gain complete control over the populace. That is why the Obama Administration is citing polls which prove that Catholics are divided on the issue of birth control. It is a sad fact, that there is dissention among the faithful on contraception, however, we can take this opportunity to unite against an enemy who wants to destroy the moral fiber of this nation, by diminishing the power of the Catholic Church. If all people of faith stand united against the the thin edge of the wedge, the HHS mandate, then the Adminstration will not succeed in mandating abortion coverage, which is the real agenda.
Don't be fooled by any compromises offered to the Church. Remember the compromise which Catholic Congressman Bart Stupak accepted. It was a ruse, Obama knew it and so did we. We will not be fooled into accepting a compromise this time.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on how President Obama’s spokesmen are defending his healthcare plan mandating that Catholic institutions provide for services they deem immoral:
David Axelrod of the Obama campaign said yesterday that “We certainly don’t want to abridge anyone’s religious freedom, so we’re going to look for a way to move forward that both provides women with the preventative care that they need and respects the prerogatives of religious institutions.” Similarly, White House press secretary Jay Carney said yesterday that “the president is very interested in finding the appropriate balance between religious beliefs and convictions.”
Both men are insincere. We know that there was division in the Obama administration when the Obama edict was being contemplated, and that the president sided with extremists like Kathleen Sebelius, the Secretary of Health and Human Services (anyone who raises money for a man dedicated to performing partial-birth abortions is obviously an extremist; she did so for Dr. George Tiller). So they had plenty of time to figure out a way not to punish Catholics, and they still decided to drop the hammer.
White House supporters of Obama’s edict are pointing to a poll that shows a slight majority of Catholics supporting Obama’s plan. But the poll is flawed. As always, the question affects the outcome. The poll never mentioned that the federal government would place sanctions on Catholic institutions if they did not comply, and that ultimately it could lead to pulling federal funds to Catholic hospitals, effectively shutting them down. Nor did the poll mention that the Obama plan mandates that Catholic entities provide abortion-inducing drugs. In short, the question was dishonest. Just wait until all Catholics find out what’s really at stake.
What Obama is doing is just an opening for mandating abortion coverage in every healthcare plan.

We can stand as one people of faith, Jews, Muslims, Christians, who say to the Administration. "We are all Catholics now" and you will NOT divide us to weaken our resolve to stand up for our rights under the First Amendment. You will be overcome at the ballot box in November.
Mr Obama, you are being put on notice; this will not stand in America, the land of the free and the home of the brave.You will be a one term president.

Rick sweeps Missouri, Minnesota and Colorado!

 Santorum is the superior candidate in policy and in his ability to articulate a conservative agenda to heal the economy and society, but so often Americans listen to the media when they annoint someone (Romney) or fall for the catchy soundbites of a candidate with no stability (Newt), that I had trouble keeping the faith that the stellar qualities of Rick Santorum would have a chance in the spotlight. Especially since he was cheated out of his Iowa bounce and is too easily written off by the media. Charles Krauthammer led the Fox Allstars in a group mea culpa last night which was very gratifying!
Let me be clear; Santorum is THE best chance we have to beat Obama.
I watch MSNBC and CNN to see what the enemy is thinking and the left has been lamenting lately that Obama has lost 2/3 of the Reagan Democrats. THEY ARE THE SWING VOTERS ON WHOM THIS ELECTION DEPENDS. And they are up for grabs. Rick can win them. Here's how.
They are conservative, midwest high school graduates, blue collar workers who are afraid of the direction in which this nation is heading. They don't like snobs like McCain who doesn't remember how many houses he owns, Obama with his fancy Hawaiian vacations, or Romney who doesn't worry about the poor. They want a man from steel country whose grandfather was a coal miner, and who helped downtrodden Pittsburgh rise from the ashes. Rick's populist message resonates with them and they agree with his solid economic policy and family values. AND they know that with Rick, what you see is what you get. He is the real deal.

Here is his victory speech. I love how God, Karen and the kids get first mention! He sounds presidential, doesn't he?

"He Was There" by Jack Bond

Karen Handle resigns from Susan B Komen Foundation

Karen Handle calmly took Meghan Kelly's questions in the first interview since she resigned from Susan B Komen Foundation this morning. No, she didn't take full credit for Komen's decision to defund Planned Parenthood, although it was a position she took as a gubernatorial candidate in Georgia last year. It was in the works for a long time  before she joined Komen last year. Handel resigned because she has become too much of a lightening rod, distracting from the wonderful mission of Komen. Handel refused the offered severance package and refused to divulge any inner workings of Komen vis a vis Planned Parenthood beyond stating her disapproval of their strong arm tactics after the announcement that they were defunded. Handel expressed her opinion that an organization has a right to decide whom to fund.
I was disappointed that Handel did not mention the fact that Planned Parenthood was funded for breast cancer screenings but they do not do mammograms, and in fact promote carcinogenic birth control and abortions. She praised Komen to the skies and was very down on Planned Parenthood but did not say anything beyond that their strong arm tactics were called for.

It will be very interesting to see what is next for Karen Handel, she denies having heard from pro-life groups but they are certainly pleased with her and may make her the next Abby Johnson. Stay tuned. I think she might even run again for political office, now that she is famous.

Watch the interview on Fox News here.

Occupy thugs repay Bishop Tobin's charity with violence against chidlren

On January 25, Thomas Tobin, the Bishop of Providence, decided to reach out to “Occupy Providence” by allowing the homeless to seek shelter in Catholic churches; the city had turned down a request by the group to set up daytime shelters. The next day, “Occupy Providence” activists showed their gratitude by crashing a pro-life rally, shouting down a speaker, stopping a priest from offering a closing prayer, and throwing condoms at Catholic schoolgirls. In short, these left-wing activists have turned into urban bullies who need to be stopped.

To say that Catholic bashing is in vogue is an understatement. From President Obama who is seeking to intimidate Catholic institutions by forcing them to prostitute their moral convictions, to “Occupy” maniacs who respond to goodwill by engaging in thuggery, it is open season on Catholics. We will do what we can to constructively channel the anger, which is palpable.

Contact “Occupy Providence” official Susan Beaty: beaty.susan@gmail.com

Obama finally crosses the line with HHS contraception mandate

I felt a curious sense of elation while reading the outpouring of outrage over the HHS mandate that Catholic institutions have one year to offer contraceptive coverage to employees and patients. I was pleasantly surprised to note that outrage has come not only from the expected sources like USCCB Head Cardinal Designate Timothy Dolan    but even some surprising quarters like Cardinal Roger Mahony and EJDionne. who said,

Speaking as a Catholic, I wish the Church would be more open on the contraception question. But speaking as an American liberal who believes that religious pluralism imposes certain obligations on government, I think the Church’s leaders had a right to ask for broader relief from a contraception mandate that would require it to act against its own teachings. The administration should have done more to balance the competing liberty interests here.

One of my favorite quotes on this situation is "Obama has done what the Pope has failed to do, unite US Bishops". Reading this I began to understand my positive feelings toward what is clearly a threat to the First Amendment rights of Catholics. I am pleased to see Catholics of all stripes actually care about the fact that our institutions will be forced to provide contraception/abortifacients for our patients and employees. Read a roundup of reactions to the mandate at MercatorNet article here. 

Like most orthodox Catholics I have become a bit cynical over thedecades of Catholic indifference on the contraception issue. You don't have to go any further than TV/radio host Sean Hannity to see a Catholic passionately justify his flouting of Church teaching.  Here are some of my experiences of how casually the Church's ban on contraception has disregarded.

Twenty years ago, a Catholic nun was running a health fair in my parish on Long Island. I suggested that a couple who teach Natural Family Planning run a booth helping young couples like my new husband and I plan our families with respect for Church teaching. She gave me a disdainful look and reminded me that the parish allowed her to work as a social worker for federal funds, and that precluded her from doing anything "Catholic" like NFP.

I was not stunned, I had seen the same phenomenon as a social worker at Catholic Charities in the eighties. When a church or social service agency accepts government funds it accepts government control. The difference is, up until now the encroachments have been gradual and voluntarily accepted by the faithful themselves. After all, how many Catholics entered that health fair seeking Natural Family Planning?

When my husband and I took the diocesan course in preparation for marriage, half the couples were using NFP because too many years of contraceptives had left them sterile. Few were doing it in obedience to Humanae Vitae. In fact, NFP training should have been part of our Pre-Cana program, but the couple running the program admitted they used the pill and it "worked for them".I didn't bother reporting this to the pastor of the parish, I knew I would be met with a shrug.

A great majority of Catholics have disregarded Church teaching on contraception, in fact the Sisters of Mercy who taught me at the all girls high school I attended, instructed us on how to use it and where to obtain it, warning us not to let our parents see our notebooks. My mother did, and was horrified.

Contraception has been widely accepted in the Catholic community for nearly half a century. So why the fuss over the HHS mandate that Catholic institutions provide contraception for its employees?  Perhaps we as a Church thought it was our dirty little secret. We convinced ourselves that no one outside knew how few Catholics actually obeyed this Church teaching to have the marital act be perpetually open to life. Except the research arm of Planned Parenthood, the Guttmacher Institute who reported last spring in the Huffington Post that 98% of Catholic women have used contraceptives. They have been dispensing contraceptives to Catholics for decades.Shame on us! So now we are outraged to be forced to do what we have been volunteering to do for half a century.

Elizabeth Scalia explains.

With the administration’s decision, the covert culture of death has finally made a truly overt move against the culture of life. 

PP Director Cecile Richards with Obama

 Obama just had the arrogance to think we wouldn't care if he was open about it. After all, when Rick Santorum explained how contraception led us to the legalization of abortion, Catholics yawned while the media attacked him. So Obama assumed, carefully advised by liberal Catholics friendly to his administration who helped him get Obamacare approved, that just one more push and he'd have Catholics on the ropes. No one cares about contraception, then we can use this mandate to force abortion down the line.

After all, it worked for Bill Baird an abortion clinic owner whose case in the Supreme Court made it legal for unmarried couples to obtain contraception, creating a gold mine for abortionists like himself.
Here's a little history of Bill Baird's activism from the website "The Pro-Choice League". Note how birth control leads to abortion.

Some facts about Pro Choice League's founder Bill Baird:March 22 is the anniversary of Baird v. Eisenstadt, his 1972 U.S. Supreme Court case that legalized birth control for all Americans (replacing the 1965 decision for married couples only).  Baird v. Eisenstadt was a landmark case that became the bedrock of countless privacy cases such as Roe v. Wade and the gay rights victory Lawrence v. Texas (2003).  1964  - Baird established the nation's first aboveground abortion referral and birth control clinic (Well before abortion was legal facing a potential 10-year jail term). 1965 - Baird led the first demonstration ever outside of St. Patrick's Cathedral against the Church's stance against birth control for all citizens not only Catholics. 1965 - Established the nation's first birth control and abortion club on a college campus (Hofstra University - NY) 1965 & 1966 Challenged anti-birth control statutes in New York and then New Jersey for which he was arrested and jailed. 1967 - established the nation's first "abortion slush fund" to help students pay for illegal abortions. 1967 Baird led another march against the Catholic Church saying "... no religion has a right to impose its dogma on others."

Note how his activism lead to the legalization of all kinds of perversion from abortion to homosexuality. When Catholics disregarded Humanae Vitae in the sixties, they gave Bill Baird, Planned Parenthood, their ally,  Barack Obama the abortion president, the opening they needed to slowly and covertly undermine the Church's influence on the culture.
 Until Humanae Vitae in 1967, Catholics were holding the line on morality, keeping sexuality largely inside marriage, but our hedonism and love of government money provided the opening for the intolerable situation we find ourselves in today, where our Catholic institutions will have to pay for contraceptives and abortificients. Its time to shut the barn door, but the horse has already escaped.

Senator Marco Rubio

Rick and Bella Santorum

I am grateful for the opportunity to see my Church unite behind this issue and hope it becomes a teachable moment on how our own sinfulness created this weakness which Obama so wickedly exploited. I bet he and his staff are shocked at the amount of outrage they created, and are hoping it dies down in time for the election.

Thanks to Senator Marco Rubio, son of Cuban refugees and no stranger to creeping religious oppression, for introducing the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 2012. 
Rick Santorum and Marco Rubio have shown the moral courage which the Kennedys  and the Cuomos lacked when abortion was overtaking our formerly moral culture. They along with bishops like Robert Tobin of Rhode Island, Archbishop Chaput of Philadelphia,  and Fabian Bruskewitz of Nebraska have long held such Catholic politicians' feet to the fire on life issues. Now the Johnnny-come-latelies are at long last realizing where ignoring the Church's teaching on contraception has led. May this moment be one of conversion of all hearts on this issue, and bond us together into a force for authentic moral reform in this nation. This is what can save America from total implosion.

Bella Santorum recovering from double pneumonia

From the Family Research Council:

If you've been following the Santorum campaign, then you know Rick and his wife, Karen, had quite a scare last weekend when their littlest daughter, Bella, was hospitalized. The Santorums' three-year-old suffers from a genetic disorder called Trisomy 18, and a complication like pneumonia can be deadly. Rick cancelled his campaign appearances to be with Bella, but they're happy to report that their daughter is making a miraculous recovery.

I had the opportunity to talk with Fox News's Megyn Kelly yesterday about Bella Santorum and kids like her. FRC had just finished up a special conference on the topic of prenatal disability diagnosis. Tragically, about 90% of the kids who have conditions like Bella's are aborted. Sometimes parents are misled into thinking that their baby or their family will have a poor quality of life. But a study released this fall found the opposite. It showed that adolescent children with Down Syndrome are actually very happy--off-the-charts happy compared to the average teenager. And of all those parents who followed through and had their children, 97% were proud of them. Seventy-nine percent said their outlook on life was more positive because of their Down Syndrome child. Just ask the Santorums. Rick and Karen admit that Bella has some difficulties, but she brings them more joy than anyone could imagine. Join us in praying for a complete and speedy recovery!

See Megan Kelly interview Tony Perkins about Rick and Bella Santorum here. 

Why Santorum is a lightning rod and a savior

It is painfully clear why the liberal left hates Rick Santorum; its his stand on moral issues. But where does that visceral hatred originate? It goes way beyond partisanship, to deep emotional wounds which are the consequences of the very sexual immorality he opposes.Otherwise there would be opposition to him but not hatred. And sadly I don't believe its limited to the left. I think millions of Republicans have hatred for him because he occupies the high moral ground which they have ceded to the culture of death and they, instead of seeking healing by supporting him, are trying to silence his voice.

Most of this is a result of the pain caused by abortion. It is said that forty percent of women have had an abortion in the USA, many of them repeat abortions. This is creating untold, unspoken, buried suffering in millions of women and men, and it makes me angry. I am not so angry at those who have had abortions, many of them were lied to, told there was no baby, it would not affect them any more than an appendectomy, that their problems would be solved, or in the case of special needs children, that they were being good parents and sparing their children suffering. I am angry at those whose livelihood require perpetuating this lie. Like the Planned Parenthood reps who invaded the public high schools in minority neighborhoods where I taught to encourage sexual promiscuity with a wink, knowing that such activity would lead these youths into the abortion mill where Planned Parenthood makes its living. According to an article in the Star Exponent on Bella Santorum and abortion;

British Journal of Psychiatry contains the research findings of Prof. Priscilla Coleman, Ph.D. of Bowling Green State University entitled, “Abortion and mental health: quantitative synthesis and analysis of research published 1995–2009”.
Dr. Coleman concludes that: “Based on data extracted from 22 studies, the results of this meta-analytic review of the abortion and mental health literature indicate quite consistently that abortion is associated with moderate to highly increased risks of psychological problems subsequent to the procedure…Overall, the results revealed that women who had undergone an abortion experienced an 81% increased risk of mental health problems"

So many Republicans have not been living up to those moral ideals held by Santorum, and are suffering the regret and denial which post-abortive women and men suffer, but instead of seeking healing, they are shooting the messenger, moral issue candidate Rick Santorum with a long, faithful marriage and eight children (one of whom Gabriel has left this world for heaven). Most of his fellow Catholics are using forbidden contraception, and hate Santorum for correctly stating that is is the cause of abortion in this nation. The great majority of abortions are performed on women whose contraception has failed, in fact the Supreme Court used our dependence on contraception as an excuse for abortion according to Professor Janet Smith;

Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the recent Supreme Court decision that confirmed Roe v. Wade, stated, "in some critical respects abortion is of the same character as the decision to use contraception . . . . for two decades of economic and social developments, people have organized intimate relationships and made choices that define their views of themselves and their places in society, in reliance on the availability of abortion in the event that contraception should fail."

So, I firmly believe that there is a large, but silent group of Republicans and Catholics who know Santorum is right on abortion and marriage but that to endorse him would mean they would have to face their own moral failures, choose instead to support Newt whose serial adulteries and three marriages make them feel more comfortable or Mitt whose liberal past makes his protestations of moral conservatism laughable.

Rush Limbaugh once said, after Bill Clinton was elected that we get the candidate we deserve. He was referring to Clinton's addictive womanizing which he covered up by perjury which brought on his impeachment, and lowered the moral tone of the nation. My homeschooled Catholic children know what oral sex is thanks to Bill Clinton. Now we have a president who is mandating birth control coverage by Catholic institutions, and soon abortions will be forced upon them as well either causing them to cave in and cease being a light in the darkness or close their doors. Obama had a slight majority of the Catholic vote, and useful Catholic idiots like Biden, Pelosi, Doug Kmiec and Chris Matthews on his side. Once again, we got the immoral president we deserve.

Do we deserve Rick Santorum? Perhaps not, but I have hope that the Obama Administration's arrogance and recent overreaching may yet awakened the sleeping giant of Catholic conscience, and remind us that the only candidate who reflects our all important moral values was just off the campaign trail to be at his daughter Bella Maria's bedside in the hospital this weekend.

We are at a crossroads. This may be our last chance to try and regain the family structure and moral stability on which American was built. We cannot afford the social programs required by the social and economic chaos created by the rampant promiscuity in America :welfare, prisons, subsidized contraception and abortion, and food stamps to replace responsible, married love and solid moral character supported by good parenting.Rush Limbaugh in a transcript from his show, admits Santorum is right on the link between social and economic issues.

I have the greatest admiration for Santorum. He had a statement or debate, somebody, a think tank person, Brookings or whatever, something like three things -- it might not have been Brookings, but some think tank -- three things you could do that take care of income inequality, that take care of cultural rot, and they were all family-oriented type issues, and one of them was don't have kids before you get married. It's amazing when you look at the numbers of single-parent households, out of wedlock births. If you look at that definition, if you accept it as a sign of the disintegration of culture, the family breakup, it is amazing. Santorum is right.

Santorum offers us a way out; support the family and restore moral, civil and financial order. Are we wise enough and moral enough to take him up on it?

David Limbaugh endorses Rick Santorum

Let's Honor, Not Stretch, the Buckley Rule By: David Limbaugh http://www.davidlimbaugh.com/mt/archives/2012/01/new_column_lets_2.html In the intense heat of the present, it is easy to forget even the relatively recent past, but it seems to me that this GOP primary season is more acrimonious than the past few, probably because the stakes are so high... ... Conservatives are fighting among themselves about not just who the best candidate would be but also who is most electable. Sure, electability has always been an issue, but now some are saying that to support someone, it's essential not only that we show he is electable but also that he is the most electable. This amounts to replacing the "Buckley rule" -- that "we should support the most conservative candidate who is electable" -- with "we should support the most electable candidate, provided he is at least marginally conservative." We saw a similar political calculus at work during the debt ceiling negotiations. Some argued that we couldn't buck Obama on his specious smoke-and-mirrors cuts, because to draw a line in thesand, even though correct in principle, could have been interpreted by the electorate as uncompromising and enhanced Obama's re-election efforts. Everything had to be focused on 2012. Now many of the same people are telling us that we have to compromise on 2012, as well, that we can't support a candidate who is more conservative, even during the primary, because it would reduce our chances of defeating Obama. I appreciate the concern, but the logical extension of this kind of thinking is that we all have to become mini political operatives, always engaging first in strategic political calculations and never voting our hearts. Such is the formula for sacrificing one's dreams and aspirations; such is the avenue toward fatalistic resignation, compromise and settling for less without even trying to push for your real goals; such is the formula for guaranteeing that we never elect another Ronald Reagan conservative. I am the first to say that once the GOP nominee is chosen, we must unite around the candidate to defeat Barack Obama. Until then, I refuse to surrender to pressure to abandon my passion for true, reliable conservatism, especially from those whose idea of electability is highly debatable and from others whose assessment is hopelessly skewed by their own preferences. In this volatile season, dark horses have skyrocketed to lead the field, and some might have remained there but for alleged scandals or other factors. I don't believe that the science of electability is as certain as those promoting it would have us believe. We can't even agree on whether the key is wooing the center or igniting the base. It is complex and fluid and largely unknowable. Even current polls hypothetically matching Obama against different candidates tell us very little, because the Democratic attack machine has yet to unleash its $1 billion assault on, say, Mitt Romney. I reject the conventional wisdom that Rick Santorum could not win the general election, because I believe he represents the best contrast to Obama and is the least vulnerable to attack, among other reasons. I have varying concerns about the other candidates, but I respect their respective supporters and realize that some of them even believe their candidate is the most conservative of the group, though I disagree. I will support whoever emerges as the Republican nominee, but I do not apologize for supporting Rick Santorum.

To learn more about former Senator Rick Santorum, please visit www.RickSantorum.com.

My interview on "National Review"

While in Washington for book signings, my Pre-natal Diagnosis Conference, and the March for Life, I was able to meet National Review columnist Kathryn Jean Lopez. We had already collaborated on this interview for National Review which came out today.

Here's a sneak peak;

LOPEZ: Do you see your book as important for marriages?

VELASQUEZ: Not all married couples will face a prenatal diagnosis of a special-needs baby, but it is certain that all marriages will face major challenges. Life sends us unexpected crises: infidelity, death of a parent, loss of a home or a job, addiction. Learning from the couples who dealt with potentially marriage-wrecking obstacles and emerged from the crisis stronger, more forgiving, and more loving is invaluable. It’s the basis for self-help groups from AA toRetrouvaille. I want married readers to note that the couples who contributed to this book grew closer to God in response to the challenges they faced raising their special-needs child, and, as a result, grew closer to one another. The child who precipitated a marital crisis became a source of healing for the entire family.

Leticia Velasquez - A Special Mother is Born

Conference on Medical Advances in Pre-natal Diagnoses

Warren Buffett is an anti Catholic

WHY WARREN BUFFETT IS ANTI-CATHOLIC

January 25, 2012

 

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on an aspect of Warren Buffett’s finances not ordinarily discussed:

Warren Buffett’s comment that the rich should pay higher taxes, now enshrined by President Barack Obama as the “Buffett Rule,” is drawing much applause. What is not being discussed is the billionaire’s support for anti-Catholicism. First some background information.

Over several decades, Buffett has spent a fortune funding radical abortion organizations like NARAL and Planned Parenthood; he has lavishly given money to train a new generation of abortion physicians; he has spent millions to help RU-486 (the abortion-inducing drug) to win FDA approval; and he gave his pro-abortion, population-control friends at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation nearly $31 billion in 2006 for more of the same. There’s nothing anti-Catholic about any of this, but when he intentionally seeks to subvert Catholicism by dishonestly funding pro-abortion organizations that have hijacked the Catholic name, that’s another story.

To be specific, Buffett has given hundreds of millions over the years to anti-Catholic front groups like Catholics for Choice (formerly Catholics for a Free Choice) and its sister organization in Latin America, Catholics for the Right to Decide. In 2010, the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation alone gave $759,822 to the former, and almost $1.7 million to the latter. These letter-head organizations wouldn’t exist if they depended on donations from members—they don’t have any—they exist because of the likes of Warren Buffett.

If Buffett, or someone like him, were to throw millions upon millions funding Jews for Jesus, what would the Jewish community call him? Now you know why Warren Buffett has earned the tag anti-Catholic. 


Contact our director of communications about Donohue’s remarks:
Jeff Field
Phone:             212-371-3191      
E-mail: cl@catholicleague.org